Platform Governance: Dimensions, Mechanisms, and Tools

Introduction

The digitisation of virtually all aspects of contemporary life, from politics (Gillespie 2018) and labour relations (Srnicek 2017; Van Doorn, 2017) to cultural production and consumption (Nieborg & Poell 2018), communication, transportation, banking and commerce, amongst others and the attendant legal implications have occasioned structural and technological changes in many sectors of the global economy. This has given rise to the emergence and development of the platform ecosystem (Evans & Gawer, 2016; Zysman & Kenney, 2016; Cohen, 2017). To this end, many of the largest and most successful businesses now operate as platforms. Just as many businesses currently operate as platforms (Palmié et al., 2020), issues such as inclusion, regulation, governance, data privacy, protection, cybersecurity, etc. have been of concern to the platform ecosystem. The reason platforms need to be governed cannot be overemphasised. Most platforms involve numerous interests that do not align. Misalignment of interests makes it difficult for managers of platforms ('the company or the platform business') to ensure fairness to all those involved (Parker, van Alstyne & Choudary, 2016).

Over the last decade, the political role of platform companies has caused our understanding of how platforms are governed (via content policy decisions, algorithms, and forms of user dependency) to deepen considerably (Nieborg & Poell 2018). The nature of governance also means that many stakeholders have a role to play in ensuring that equity and fairness are achieved across the value chain. Key players in platform governance include not only platform companies and users, but also, political actors including government and advocacy groups such as non-governmental privacy and digital rights groups, academics and researchers, and investigative journalists), who all play an accountability role by scrutinising the practices of platform companies (Gorwa, 2019). This does not mean that governance intervention by these political forces is superior, instead, as suggested by Dingwerth and Pattberg (2006, 192), 'a wide variety of forms of governance exist next to each other and that a hierarchy among these various mechanisms is hard, if not impossible, to discern.' But, going forward, the question of how platforms should be governed is currently being discussed in many policy and public circles, and more so in scholarly circles. “Even Mark Zuckerberg conceded that the question is not whether to regulate Facebook, but how” (Pasquale, 2018, p. 14). A critical question that bothers on platform governance is, if users of the services provided by platforms seek good governance, then, how should they get it?

The need for the internal governance of the digital platform ecosystem remains paramount in ensuring the success of platform companies and the ecosystem at large. Governance remains a challenge, especially for established companies who are shifting to a platform presence. Financial institutions that ordinarily operate as banks now render their banking services via digital platforms. For example, banking is provisioned through digital banking platforms by some African banks such as Access Bank that uses its Access mobile banking App. With such an app, one can perform most banking transactions remotely, conveniently, and promptly. But Access Bank and other banks were not originally designed to operate their business as platforms. Nevertheless, established companies create platforms in response to market demands and to keep up with the swift speed of digital transformation.

In this chapter, the issues surrounding the governance of the digital platform economy are of focus. The remaining part of this chapter is organised as follows. Following this introductory section, the next section presents the review methodology, and then, an overview of platforms. After this, a literature review of thematic issues in platform governance is provided. Following this is the section discussing insights from the literature review. The chapter closes with a conclusion, recommendations, and direction for future research.